I am both a museum employee and a museum goer, and will comment that I personally hate music in exhibits, and tend to rush through the ones that have music included. If you are going to incorporate music, it should be low volume, and only in certain selected areas where it may serve to complement the exhibit in question. I have found the places that have music you need to opt in to hear – i.e. you can push a button to get the musical content in an exhibit, or the music is on acoustiguides you have to opt to use – far preferable to the places with canned music broadcast to the visitor at large and set on repeat throughout the day.

The other thing you want to really consider is your staff and volunteers. If you have guards or staff or volunteers who are stationed regularly in areas with music, or your gift shop or other offices are adjacent to a place with music where the sound carries over, the repetition will start to make people crazy. My husband worked for years near an exhibit with fairly loud music in one section that repeated throughout the day. After a few years of that, he and his co-workers regularly fantasized about ways they could destroy the music device surreptitiously. The day that exhibit hall came down and silence finally returned, there was much celebration throughout that part of the building.

Listers,

My director has put to me a request for ‘regional music’ in all of our exhibits. Now, as I curator I balked at the idea of breaking themes of my galleries with random music that has nothing to do with the exhibit ie. A military exhibit or a doctors exhibit. I was wondering of your opinions concerning music in galleries/exhibits, do you have music, have you rejected the idea and why?

Any opinions would be helpful!

Thank you!

Lisa

Curator of Collections and Exhibits

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